The Hindu Business Line : Software installation

My PC runs on Windows 98, but I would like to install Windows XP instead. I would like to do so by formatting only the C drive where the Windows 98 OS is currently installed. At the same time, I don't want to reinstall other applications such as MS office, which are stored in other drives and would rather that they stayed in their current locations. Please tell me if there is a way by which I can switch the entries in the registry of Windows 98, with respect to software installed in other drives, to the Windows XP registry so that I can run those applications as if they have been installed in Windows XP. - Laksh R

Please understand that when a software is installed, the following basic things happen:

Program Files are copied to the Program Directory as specified by you. For instance, C:\Program Files\Office etc.

System files relating to the software being installed are copied to the system directory, like c:\winnt or c:\windows.

And entries in the registry and system INI files are made as required.

Registering component files such as .ocx and .dll files so that the system knows the list of components added to it and what they are.

Having this in mind, here are a few more points to remember:

All software do not necessarily make registry entries.

All software do not copy system file. They might just install the Program files alone.

Files copied by the software might be OS specific (in most cases), especially the system files.

Now, your plan to make registry entries in order that the software installed in one OS works in another OS will be successful only if the files installed by the software are not OS dependent, and again component files, if any like .ocx files, need to be registered with the system with regserver32 etc, so that the components will have a CLASS id entry in the registry.

To simplify it, only simple software which do not have OS specific files and components that do not need complex registrations can be just copied around and run on different OS, but programs that are complex (in terms of system architecture), such as MS Office, Development tools, big games, etc cannot just be transferred and run across OS. So, please make sure you install it using the installer which comes with the program.

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in

if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer.

Solution by G. Rajah

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